The Dell Streak Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 15, 2010 6:59 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Dell
- Streak
- Gadgets
- Mobile
The Performance Problem
When I first played with the Streak seven months ago it felt quick. The Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 inside was the king of the hill. Today, it’s a different world. Apple’s A4 and TI’s OMAP 3630 are where it’s at.
Performance is a definite problem. Let’s say you’re on the rightmost home screen, number four by default, and tap the home key to return to the main home screen. It takes a full three seconds for the Streak to get to the main home screen and stop animating. Not to mention that the animations are choppy along the way.
There are wireless and battery indicators in the upper right corner of the screen. Tap on those indicators to bring up more detailed information about the battery and network options among other things. The only problem? The detailed info takes roughly 1.3 seconds to pop up. You expect it to be instantaneous but it’s far from it.
The camera app takes 3.2 seconds to launch. But even worse is that it takes 3.3 seconds from the moment you hit the shutter release until you get to review the picture you just took.
This may seem like picking nits but grab a Droid X or iPhone 4 and see if you can measure any popup or transition in any number of seconds. You can’t.
In a world of iPhone 4s and Droid Xs the Streak just doesn’t feel quick. Not only that, but it doesn’t even feel like it’s of this generation. A large part of the Streak’s performance is due its OS: Android 1.6. A look through any of our benchmarks will show you that despite using a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC, the Streak doesn’t perform anywhere close to the Nexus One, HTC Incredible or Droid X. Let’s forget about comparing it to the iPhone 4 or iPad.
Web page rendering isn’t as bad as interacting with the OS. Pages load slower than Android 2.1 devices but it’s not painfully slow. Most of the time you’re limited by the speed of the cellular network to begin with. Web browsing is painful however as scrolling is very choppy. While this is a problem with all Android devices I’ve used, it’s clearly worse on the Streak.
Rightware’s BrowserMark is representative of the sort of web page rendering performance I saw on the Streak.
In this test the Streak offers roughly 80% of the performance of Motorola’s Droid X. I’d say that’s representative of the web page rendering performance I saw on a regular basis.
SunSpider supports what we've seen thus far. Despite having a 1GHz Snapdragon, the Streak performs more like a faster Droid than a Droid X.
Linpack and Benchmark Pi show the limitations of Android 1.6 more clearly. In both cases the Streak is slower than the original Motorola Droid with its 500MHz Cortex A8 based TI OMAP 3430.
Qualcomm’s Neocore benchmark shows us that the Adreno 200’s GPU drivers are seemingly mature, at least for 3D rendering in Android 1.6. There’s barely any difference between the Streak and QSD8250 based Snapdragon devices in this test.
Thankfully Dell has promised to deliver Android 2.2, codenamed Froyo, on the Streak before the end of the year. The only problem with that promise is Dell is asking for your money today. If you purchase the Streak today yes, you’ll get a wonderful upgrade for free at some point in the future, but in the interim you’ll have horrible performance - at least for a $600 device.
Even if you’re considering the Streak, I’d recommend waiting until the 2.2 update. There’s no reason for you to provide Dell with an interest-free loan until then.
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donzi7000 - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
If a cell phone stops you from getting laid you have major problems user-x.user_x - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
/sigh. It was a joke. He had a valid question. There is a limit to how big these things can get and still be deemed a phone. Out of curiosity, how large do YOU think that these phones slash tablets can be produced and not seem laughable to hold one to your face? I've been honestly wondering this and I think 5" is probably the breaking point. It seems like an awfully small niche market for Dell to be going after.vol7ron - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
With all the driving restrictions that are coming about these days, many people are turning to Bluetooth anyhow.Besides, remember all those iPhone adds about browsing the web while talking to someone on the phone? Sometimes you'd like to browse the web and still hold a private conversation (not using speakerphone), Bluetooth is the answer again.
If you want to use your phone for a phone, get something else, but I use my phone more for reading/browsing/texting/games than I do to talk to someone. I guess I'm more of an introvert when it comes to phones, because I don't like talking on them, they're just there in case of an emergency for me - the bigger, the better, so long as it can still fit in a pocket and last long enough to do stuff.
strikeback03 - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
I have a Archos 5 IMT (6th gen device, the version without Android) and consider it far too large to carry as a cell phone. I sometimes put it in a shirt pocket at work if I am moving around, but I consider it uncomfortable in a pants pocket, and I do not wear tight pants.OTOH, just over a year go I was using it at a coffee shop and someone asked me if it was a phone. I responded No, who would want to carry a phone this large? Now people are...
damianrobertjones - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
I'm sitting next to a HD2 which is 4.3". An extra 0.7" seems a small price to pay and shouldn't look silly.Either way, everyone that see's the phone says, "Ohhh, whats that...", then pauses, before adding, "Why didn't you get an iPhone?"
My reply of, "I don't want my pc to have an extra 6 services and bloatware" usually gets met with a blank look. I will, one day, own a streak
cameralogic - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
I don't think user-x is the one with the major problems here, troll7000...Anand Lal Shimpi - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
It's not terrible. I actually planned on taking a shot similar to what you just asked for but it slipped my mind at the last minute. I'll try to take one tomorrow.HP's Rahul Sood described it best - it's like you're ironing your face :)
More than anything it's just clumsy to pull out of your pocket and quickly answer the phone with.
Take care,
Anand
MadMan007 - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
This whole thread is rediculous. Anand, you surely remember the days of the gray minibrick Motorola 'flip phones,' the ones that were around before the StarTac. Anyone older than their mid-20s probably won't, and shouldn't, care. If this thing looks silly when help to make a call then all you have to do is show someone the screen to make it seem not silly ;)johnsonx - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
this reminds me a little of one of the very first smartphones, the original handspring Treo. It was a huge phone at the time, very wide; when you used it as a phone it looked like you were holding a small laptop to your face.FilipK959 - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
Five inch screen, I imagined 960x 540 pixels or something like that. With that much screen real-estate I think that web pages could still be readable and have more of the pages covered thus reducing scrolling. Ether way personally I like the format and if DELL resolve it's performance problems with Android 2.2 I will be very interested.